Aren’s arrogance in allowing the attack was making her intelligence seem a bit lacking.
However, the Creeper Guard was definitely a more complicated opponent than the aura it emitted suggested.
Crackle—
Boom!
Nevertheless, Aren’s attacks continued unabated.
Shin Young-ah, watching silently, seemed still dissatisfied, chewing on her nails.
“You didn’t… listen to what I said properly. Points deducted.”
‘Deducted points…’
Shin Young-ah had clearly told Aren from the beginning to fight with everything she had.
But Aren wasted her first turn as mere reconnaissance like always.
“Murgi.”
After taking a few hits, it seemed she deemed it nothing special, as Creeper Guard’s roots began to reveal their male and female forms from underground.
The one who gave it that opportunity was none other than Aren herself.
‘I shouldn’t have faced an opponent stronger than me like that. I needed to pour everything into that first attack with focus.’
In my opinion, there was no better strategy than to quickly finish off the enemy with an ambush.
Shin Young-ah seemed to think the same, nodding her head slightly as she scribbled something in her notebook.
‘It’s right that she sent us for evaluation. The urgent change of the guide must have been requested by someone asking for an evaluation…’
Seeing what she was doing, I felt a bit reassured.
At least this person was trying to play a positive role for us, which implied concern for the safety of her comrades.
‘She’s pushing hard with her words, but… that’s not bad for me.’
In other words, I could relax and slip away somewhere else.
‘I do want to experience the monsters called elite soldiers… But for now, since I’m physically distanced, maybe I should pick some relatively tricky ones.’
While maintaining a safe distance from Yeon-hee, I could venture in deeper.
“… But her movements are good. She said she was in Ilseom… She’s got the basics down.”
Was she evaluating us for something that would happen after the great beast hunt?
I wasn’t precisely sure if this woman was working for Maeng Seong-yong, but I had a rough guess about her intentions.
‘But we don’t want to get involved in that.’
If I had to guess, it seemed she was looking for talents to bring over to a world ruled by blue-eyed beings.
‘Rather than continuing to be swung around, I thought it would be better to boldly attack first…’
I didn’t know why she wanted to involve intermediate hunters like us in that.
But it didn’t really matter.
Because…
(I can’t kill.)
I remembered clearly Master’s advice, stated with certainty regarding blue-eyed beings.
Hyeon Joong-gil, who was among the strongest transcendent beings.
Even the master who described him as quite a usable knight couldn’t kill him. The being he emphasized I needed to be wary of was the ‘blue-eyed.’
Having already confirmed how tremendous a monster the incarnation of the Seven-headed Dragon was, all I thought was that I needed to stop the secret projects of the association.
Boom—!
When I briefly drifted into other thoughts, the Creeper Guard wrapped its roots around Aren’s legs and forcefully slammed her into the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!!
“Aaah…!”
“Murgi! Murgi!”
‘Aren probably had no idea when her legs were caught.’
“Ugh…! Ahh! S-stop…! S-save me—”
Aren was experiencing the fear of death as she was repeatedly being slammed down.
A monster who easily shrugged off her attacks.
It didn’t have the agility to dodge her strikes, but it was a monster that pressured her with solid defense and high recovery.
‘This is a perfect loss… Is it okay to leave her like this?’
I looked at Shin Young-ah and asked.
She nodded subtly as if she had heard my words.
Her gesture seemed to say, ‘This is a necessary process.’
‘I get what you’re after, but… isn’t it a bit early?’
“That, that guy—”
“We need to go rescue her—”
“Enough. If you move anymore… you’ll be scolded by me…”
The comrades who were about to dash out to save Aren froze like stones under Shin Young-ah’s aura.
A sense of oppression filled the air, making it feel like moving even a little would cost them their lives.
The feeling was such that it didn’t just hint at the possibility of dying, but became an inevitable sensation that guaranteed death, rendering them completely immobile.
“If she can’t escape on her own… she’ll just have to die…”
“?!”
Aren’s pupils shook greatly at Shin Young-ah’s icy words that blocked any helping hands.
Crackle— Crackle—
The mystical film that had been protecting Aren from Yeon-hee had vanished, and now cracks began to form in Shin Young-ah’s barrier. The moment that vanished, Aren would be left suffocating in blood spread around her.
It was then that Aren finally realized the reality and began to struggle to survive.
“Graaaah…!!”
Her soft fur covered ears shot up like a hedgehog’s quills.
“I-I have to live— My little brothers—”
Finally, she unknowingly unleashed her last hidden switch.
Crackle── Crash—!
“Murgi?!”
As the last barrier shattered, Aren vanished without a trace.
It was a movement unlike anything I had seen before.
Aren, moving at extraordinary speed within my senses, had changed in appearance.
Her long ears had elongated and sharpened, a swirling aura of lightning engulfed her body. And her eyes were torn into long, red slits.
‘Beast transformation… Was it forcibly brought out?’
I wished she’d reach that state more naturally, but Shin Young-ah wasn’t the type to consider that.
‘If the habit of beast transformation goes wrong, she could suffer for life. A little excitement could force her into beast transformation…’
Anyway, reaching the state of beast transformation would be quite helpful in overcoming the current situation.
“Grrah—”
Ziiip—
“Murgi?!”
Aren’s counterattack began.
With each kick she made, fine lines began to form across the Creeper Guard’s body, and green liquid started to flow out.
Recently focused on martial arts, she had returned to her original position as a knight and began slashing at the Creeper Guard.
“Murgi…”
The Creeper Guard’s soldier, muttering something incomprehensible, was unable to detect Aren’s movements and continued to take damage, slowly beginning to huddle down into a defensive stance.
“Wow… What’s up with Aren suddenly? Did she awaken?”
“They said beast transformation usually happens after reaching level 100?”
“The rabbit beastman is supposed to be fast at everything. I heard beast transformation is the fastest. But to force it out like this is possible too.”
“I don’t know what it is, but thanks to that, she’s pushing forward!”
“She’s incredibly fast…”
But it wasn’t just speed.
The power of lightning imbued in her strikes was delivering significant shock with every hit to the Creeper Guard’s soldier.
The roots that had sprung up in countless numbers burst one by one to her swinging.
The Creeper Guard began desperately fortifying its vitals and standing firm.
‘I can hold out a bit longer.’
But…
“Ugh…!”
No matter how much she achieved beast transformation, it didn’t bring a change significant enough to alter the outcome. She would need an adaptation period for that state.
Aren seemed to reach a moment where she could decide victory or defeat by pushing past her limits, but soon fell into a state of exhaustion due to chronic stamina issues.
Thud—
Shin Young-ah looked down languidly at the slumped Aren.
“Well… that wasn’t bad…”
That didn’t mean there were no results.
“The monster pulled out of its nest.”
“That’s Aren’s achievement.”
Small flowers spread throughout the village.
Their roots structure was leading towards where the Creeper Guard’s soldier was.
It had been using that to sprinkle oblivion potions in the village, but due to Aren’s momentum, it had to abandon that task.
“You and… you. Get out.”
With Aren pushed back, Shin Young-ah bound the Creeper Guard with restraints and sent Joo-ah and Eun-young out as a duo.
Seeing the Creeper Guard unable to move due to the restraints, the bewildered comrades decided to follow Shin Young-ah for now.
“Why won’t you let me out?”
Ha-yoon asked.
Were we saving the strongest combat powers, Yeon-hee and Ha-yoon, for later?
“Starting with the ones whose overall combat power is lower… You’ll meet the stronger ones soon.”
“Tch… But we have to fight quickly.”
Shin Young-ah’s words weren’t empty.
Currently, my sense had expanded over 10km, and the Creeper Guards within that range were starting to pay attention to us.
‘They must be sharing the crisis of their kin.’
Of course, that didn’t mean they would rush over immediately.
Three teams of other hunters were steadily spreading out, pressing the monsters starting from the outskirts.
Would those inside come running to help their kin on the outermost regions?
For now, that was the key point, and Shin Young-ah didn’t expect them to get that far yet.
And then, ten minutes later.
Boom──!
The head of the Creeper Guard that had been persistently attacking Joo-ah and Eun-young cleanly exploded from a single shockwave.
(I can’t endure this filthy smell any longer.)
Azraelon had fired the shockwave after holding it in for long.
“That’s… cheating…”
Shin Young-ah tilted her head as she looked at the mackerel-patterned cat perched on Ham Eun-young’s head, grooming its mustache.
“You can think of it as something like a guardian spirit for Eun-young. Isn’t that not cheating?”
In response to Yeon-hee’s words, Shin Young-ah nodded slightly.
“Alright… If it’s a bound being, then it can be seen as part of its powers. Judging by the fact that it didn’t intervene from the start, it must be a being with considerable intelligence. I understand now… why that person said those words…”
That person referred to the one who told her to guide us. Maeng Seong-yong.
Certainly, it would be him.
‘It’s strange… There shouldn’t be any reason for him to take us with him no matter what.’
Let’s rethink this.
The reason for wanting to bring along hunters who may be weaker but show potential.
‘Could it be that S-rank hunters and such strong ones can’t be sent to other worlds? If they still haven’t found a way to send such strong individuals…’
If that were the case, it would all align perfectly.
And if that really were the case, then Maeng Seong-yong’s intention of raising us would become clear.
‘scouting team… a tool to gather pre-information.’
From the time when he suddenly mentioned going to the blue-eyed world, I had thought something was off…
‘But it’s still just a minor possibility.’
Of course, the likelihood of my speculation being wrong was much higher. But I should prepare for various possibilities, just in case.
‘There’s no one to trust.’
“I found it! The mana stone of the Creeper Guard!”
The Creeper Guard lay collapsed on the ground.
Their corpses were said to seep into the ground quickly after just a few days.
I quickly shoved it into the space.
“There was talk about purchasing the bodies of the Creeper Guards. Il-wol will keep them for later settlement.”
“Sure. I’ll keep track of how many we all get.”
“Baek Ah-rin… Can you move?”
“Yes, I can!”
Aren had recovered her energy by drinking Irmana’s water during the battle between Joo-ah and Eun-young.
Shaking uncontrollably—
The reaction from using beast transformation for the first time was considerable, and it looked like Aren’s contributions would be hard to expect for at least half a day.
“Everyone, remember. At the outset… we must pour everything into it. Their defense is far sturdier than known. Nonetheless… it’s clear that their head is a weakness, so a strike there will be effective. The initiative is important… extremely important.”
“Yes!!”
As the Creeper Guard fell, the villagers scattered across the village began to collapse like marionettes with cut strings.
Fortunately, Ham Eun-young, who had some healing expertise among us, examined their bodies and reported that their condition was worse than expected.
I handed small bottles of Irmana’s water to the Gori Squad, which had exceeded a hundred members, and soon the Gori Squad began pouring water into the mouths of the villagers.
Then, those villagers quickly began to show signs of recovering vitality.
Shin Young-ah stared at that scene silently.
“The summoned creature summons another summoned creature… And that water… it’s not a potion… You won’t tell me what that medicine is, will you?”
In response to Shin Young-ah’s question, Yeon-hee nodded silently and returned the question.
“Is this something you’re going to reveal? You’ve been writing a lot since earlier.”
“No… what I was asked to do is solely about you all… I have no interest in anything else.”
‘Now I can speak without concern. I’ve grown sufficiently powerful to have some negotiation leverage.’
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